Deadline Approaching, Where's The Damn Report?

Bush calls me, a war critic, "irresponsible" and says I'm helping the terrorists and emboldening the enemy and doing everything short of strapping explosives to my chest. It may be the Johnnie Walker talking, but that still hurts.

I was sans computer for about five days, and come back to reality only to see that the punk ass president has resurfaced with the tired talking points and, on a side note, some of the tightest spandex I've seen in a while.

Pre-emptive striking didn't work in Iraq War, and it sure as hell won't work in the war of public opinion.

georgia10's diary :: ::
See, Bush is kicking up all this dust against the peace-lovin'-pinko-commie-koolaid-resistant masses in an effort to cloud the fact that it's just about deadline time, and the shit is about to hit the fan.

Two weeks ago, Senate Democrats closed the doors to the Senate to demand why Senator Pat Roberts was such a fucking liar. Well, the official talking point was that we did it to "demand answers" but we all know that Roberts and the rest of the GOP were on the receiving end of some harsh (and true) words in that closed session. So fierce was the Democrats' resolve that the GOP emerged with its tail between its legs, promising to report back on two weeks about the progress of Phase II of the investigation into pre-war intelligence.

Two weeks are up. Where's my damn report?

Now, today, tomorrow, soon, the six senators appointed to report back to the Senate will, I suspect, reveal that nothing has been accomplished. The GOP version will be that "it takes time" and that Democrats stalled. The Democratic version, of course, will be based on the facts.

Pesky little facts like this one:

In remarks last week at the Woodrow Wilson Center, [Sen. Roberts] said the long-awaited phase-two report is "basically on the back burner," indefinitely postponed while the Committee turns its attention to overseeing intelligence reform. Which suits Roberts fine: As he put it, "The bottom line is that (the administration) believed the intelligence, and the intelligence was wrong." The New Republic, 3/28/05

Or this one:

There is no phase two. Last week, a commission appointed by President George W. Bush under public pressure to look into American intelligence about weapons of mass destruction issued yet another report highly critical of the intelligence services. Like the one released by the Senate committee last July, the commission's report left unaddressed the question of whether our leaders told us the truth as they sought our support for their Iraq war plans. That did not stop Roberts, however, from using the occasion as an excuse to close the books on phase two. "I don't think there should be any doubt that we have now heard it all regarding prewar intelligence," Roberts told The Washington Post, presumably with a straight face. "I think that it would be a monumental waste of time to re-plow this ground any further." St. Louis Dispatch, 4/6/05

Or this one:

It has since become blindingly apparent that Senator Pat Roberts, the committee chairman, intends to retreat on that commitment. In a July 20 letter to US Senator John Kerry, the Kansas Republican made it clear that he doesn't see that as an important priority, and that even if his committee completes phase II, the results may not be made public. Boston Globe, 9/13/2005

If the report says that Phase II is "ongoing", we should ask why it's taken well over a year to complete. After all, it was Sen. Roberts who told the American people on Meet the Press on July 11, 2004 that Phase II "is ongoing, right now." Or where is that independent commission Sen. Roberts promised in the same interview?

I want that report. I want that report to expose what a damn liar Sen. Roberts is, and I want the Democrats to hold strong to their fiery resolve on this issue. Let Bush call us traitors. Let him say we are aiding the enemy. Let him continue blubbering his cacophony of lies while we stand true to the American people. We forced a closed session once. We'll do it again. If the deadline passes, we'll do it. If the report shows stonewalling, we'll do it. We'll do it again and again and again until Phase II is complete.

Sure, the rhetoric from the right will get more vitriolic, more hateful. But that will be our barometer, because the more vicious and defensive the Bush administration gets, the closer we are getting to the truth. And no punk ass president in spandex is going to keep us from that cause.

crossposted at PoliticalCortex and my little bitty blog

Update [2005-11-14 15:29:43 by georgia10]:: Hat tip to terre below and SusanG at Political Cortex for finding out that Pat Roberts says that Phase II will be completed sometime early next year:

[Roberts] said that agreement has been reached on the Phase 2 review that the intelligence panel is doing to look into whether the Bush administration exaggerated or misused prewar intelligence. The review may not be finished this year, he said. (Nov. 14th)

Now, that struck me as odd, considering that Roberts himself was saying that the Phase II report would be completed this week:

Roberts strongly denies he has done anything to slow the inquiry that began more than a year ago and said he had just informed Democrats a day earlier that his committee was pushing to complete its work the following week. (Nov. 7th, see also here.)

Enough is enough. Please contact Reid and Rockerfeller and demand that Roberts recuse himself, or, at the very least, the Democrats reject his lies and continue to invoke Rule 21 until we get real answers.

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It seems many of us are missing the point about the political debate. one need only see rockefellars response where he sat with roberts where they discussed the controversy on fox news. the narrator brought up the queation and rockefeller said ' if the adminisration lied or intentionally misled the nation - it should not be reported ( freudian slip ) -ur- it should not be repeated '( he corrected himself ) all these politicians who supported the administration push to war are guilty and they continue to try to hide the truth.

"We should constantly be reviewing our policies, constantly be looking at those sanctions to make sure that they are directed toward that purpose. That purpose is every bit as important now as it was ten years ago when we began it. And frankly they have worked. He has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors. So in effect, our policies have strengthened the security of the neighbors of Iraq, and these are policies that we are going to keep in place." - Colin Powell, FEB 24, 2001

Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld should be impeached and then arrested.

ATTENTION CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS. We know you know in your heart that what Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld have done with Iraq far exceeds the moral AND legal test for impeachment and shows them to be a clear and present danger to the United States of America. You must stand up and say so.

You have a duty to the American people, yourself and humanity to GO TO THE MAT for bi-partisan, well funded and transparent congressional investigations leading to impeachment. Shut down the governments business if that's what you have to do to move this forward and pound it into the American mind. Use whatever guerilla parliamentary procedure available to you. Say and do nothing else until the GOP agrees to investigate what any sane and just mind considers horrific crimes. No legislation, no issue, no job, no friendship, nothing you can personally gain or lose is more important (or potentially politically effective) than this effort. Nothing is more important than cutting this cancer from our government. Our safety, perhaps even our very survival depends on it.

Mountains of evidence make clear these people have behaved in ways that make them war criminals and traitors. You must stop them before they take us to war again, before they sell out our national security again, before they destabilize the world to the point of no return. It is your right and your duty. Only you and your fellow elected congressional Democrats can get this done. This is why the people elected you.

Stand shoulder to shoulder, stand tall. Walk down the hall, grab your fellow elected Democrats by the collar, walk out onto the steps, and start saying what you believe. Say it loud, say it together and say it all the time, and you will drag the media and the American mind along. They have committed impeachable offences, they are destroying our national security and our good name, and they are profiting greatly from it. They must be held to account before we follow ancient Rome into the ashes of history.

I PROMISE YOU, in the end, not only will you know you've done the right thing, but you'll come out on top POLITICALLY as well. The American people will come to know traitors and criminals in their midst if you show them often enough what they look like. And in the end, they will be grateful. America needs leaders again. America needs heroes. Will you step up?

Remember this: Americans want leaders who will boldly defend their interests. They have been fooled into thinking the GOP will do so. But the GOP only destroys their interests. If you fight for what is right regarding how the administration lied us into war Americans will see that YOU ARE OUT for their best interests and that you are willing to put it on the line to ensure they are protected.

Senator Rockefeller, if you let Pat Roberts go back on his word to investigate the administrations use of intelligence, history will hunt you down and punish you in the same breath as those who have committed these despicable acts. Where are you? What could be more important than ensuring our leaders don’t twist intelligence to make fraudulent cases for war? As a member of the United States Senate you have the power to make sure this goes forward. You will have to put it on the line to be sure, but this is the right thing to do. Senator, we beg you, live up to your name. Stand tall in important ways.

Congressmen Waxman, Conyers, Lee, Rangel, thank you for all your letters, requests, complaints to the administration and the GOP leadership. You have done far more than most. You have shown you know right from wrong, that you have a heart, and you retain most of your humanity. But all that and a buck will buy America a cup of coffee. You have said many words that needed to be spoken. But it is clear we need different words now. We need words like IMPEACHEMENT and ARREST. Words like TREASON and HIGH CRIMES. Words like WAR PROFITEERING, CORRUPTION and CONSPIRACY.

We, the American people, need to hear from you how the conservatives SOLD OUT THE SECURITY OF OUR COUNTRY, OF OUR CHILDREN AND OUR LOVED ONES in order to try and COVER UP THEIR FRAUDLENT CASE FOR WAR. They LIED to bring this nation to war. We need to hear these words from you and your fellow congressional Democrats EVERY DAY.

These are simple concepts and the evidence is clear. Once you push these words and ideas into the American mind the game will be over. In fact, you have the chance to crush the Republican Party. With this war and the way in which we were driven to it you have the great weight of the truth. Avail yourselves of it often enough and you will crush the conservative movement.

It is clear the intransigence of this administration and the GOP leadership knows no bounds. They won’t budge until the American people demand it. The way to make that happen is for you and your fellow Democrats to shut-it-all-down, by whatever means necessary, until the evidence and consequences of their crimes are detailed in congressional investigations and front and center in our media culture. Your action will force Joe Sixpack to come to a conclusion about what you are saying. The cold, hard reality of the evidence and a few GOP rats fleeing the ship to avoid the rising water will take care of the rest.

You owe your constituents and humanity a course of action that is effective. Time is short. The situation is dire. Our rate of decay is exponential. We’re losing entire cities at a time. Impeachment was designed to save the nation from just this kind of leadership. It’s time for you to get out there and speak truth to power.

Now is your time. Write a chapter of great American history or forever be damned to the footnotes in another tale of empire gone by. America as we know it depends on your actions in the next weeks and months. History has an especially keen eye on these days. May it hold you in high regard. God speed…

With the republican control of both houses, delays to get to the truth are inevitable. Delays, in spite of the recent show of spine by Harry Reed. I am wondering if a focused private investigation into one simple question of this whole affair could help open the flood gates.
The question: Who forged (or directed the forging of) the Niger documents ?

The recent investigaton halt by the FBI is curious. Why stop with no answer to this fundamental question ? I want to know. CBS 60 Mintues was going to run a story on the Niger documents but pulled the segment in favor of the BUSH national guard story (Did they ever run the Niger story ?).

I would be willing and I think others would be too, to help support an independent investigation into this question. Maybe there are legal reasons this could not be forwarded, but we need to do something. Surely someone knows the answer to this one question. I want answers too.

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